Dr Johnson's
touch-piece

English, AD 1711

For many centuries it was believed that the
touch of a king or queen would cure an individual suffering from
scrofula, a disease of the lymphatic system also known as the
king's evil. Ceremonies at which British monarchs
'touched' sufferers continued from the time of
Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042-66) to Queen Anne (reigned
1702-14).

By the sixteenth
century 'touching' involved hanging a gold coin
around the neck of the sufferer. The coin was usually an angel, a
denomination introduced in 1464 and named after the figure of the
archangel St Michael which appeared on it. After production of the
coin had ceased in the mid-seventeenth century, small medals of a
similar design were produced specifically for the ceremonies. The
inscription that appears around the saint on these pieces
translates as 'To God alone the glory', indicating
the ultimate source of the cure. This example is said to be the
medal with which Queen Anne 'touched' Samuel
Johnson (1709-84) in 1711, when the future writer and compiler of
the celebrated Dictionary of the English
Language was a sickly two-year old
baby.